Archives for January 2019

As I was retiring from my position as a program specialist for arts integration, our team was doing professional development on the topic of growth mindset. Classroom practice was focusing on this concept for student learning and assessment of learning. Today, I find myself again appreciating the role of growth mindset as I teach adults and they learn new skills.

This past year I started to teach drawing and painting to adults through community education in drawing, painting, and collage. I hope my students are having as much fun as I am. However, mentoring and supporting adults to develop growth mindset as they begin to draw or paint is so important for learning. The adult students are challenged when they learn a new technique. They can find it hard and/or frustrating when they do not get the results they were hoping for. We have all experienced these emotions when learning a new skill so we can empathize.

People with a growth mindset interpret effort, difficulty and even errors as a sign that they are improving, not a sign that they should give up. Science backs this up. Every time we work outside of our comfort zone, making a big effort and finding things difficult, the neurons in our brain build better connections and our skills and abilities develop and improve.

So, in working with adults or children/young adults it is important to focus on the process, not the end result. When working in an art form we should all praise ourselves for the effort and perseverance we show as wells as on any improvements, even when they seem really small!

For those of you who’d like to learn more, here’s a 10 minute TED talk from Carol Dweck on the subject. Carol S. Dweck is a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Dweck is known for her work on the mindset psychological trait.

I addressed two questions in the blog last week. The first question was, “Why do I draw?” The second question was “Why do I paint?” I ended with, “It is a gift to spend time working through problems and eventually watching as something takes shape. There is something so amazing about completing a drawing or painting from start to finish.”

Today I will continue the theme of “start to finish” with a botanical painting completed this week. I have been studying the genre of botanical drawing. I am not saying I have arrived as a botanical painter but I decided today to share the process. Besides being amazed that I completed this painting I also was reminded that botanical drawing fits my preference for solitude. Botanical drawing requires close and quiet observation.

Starting the process begins with finding an object from nature that is intriguing and would hold my interest. On a walk one day I looked down at the trail and found this twig with two leaves barely hanging on to the twig. The leaves were stubborn. They did not seem ready to leave the anchor of the twig. The edges, scars, and veins of the leaves added to the story. I was curious if I could turn this object found in nature into a painting.

The twig with two leaves sat on my work desk for many weeks. Once in awhile I would study it and during this time the color and shape of the leaves changed and shifted. It was time to pick up my pencil and study the shape and values with a drawing.

Botanical art has three goals:

An image which one can return to and enjoy looking at more than once.

An illustration which shows the plant as interesting and attractive.

Skill in the use of whatever medium and technique is used to create the image.

Once my drawing was completed I worked out the color palette that would describe the various parts of the late autumn leaves. At this point I also photographed the leaves and twig from different angles and different points of interest. Eventually, I would be working from the actual object, drawings, and photographs.

Botanical Study for Leaves and Twig. Kathy Grundei 2019

The painting process can be tedious. Layers of color are applied as a thin glaze. The layers continue to replicate the range of color values observed. The first few layers become a road map. As layers of glaze build upon one another the surface subtleties of color, value and texture are expressed.

The painting goes through many many layers of glaze. Not only is color put down onto the surface of the paper but it is also lifted off. The process is one of adding and subtracting color. At some point the painting announces that it is finished.

Hanging On. 10″ x 14″ Watercolor. Kathy Grundei. 2019.

Mary Oliver put into elegant words why I am drawn to this genre of painting. She wrote, “Let me keep my mind on what matters which is my work which is mostly standing still and being astonished by what matters.” I have always had a deep appreciation for what botanical artists have recorded as they stood still.

Don’t write in that book! Don’t tear the pages! Don’t turn down the corner! Have you ever heard a teacher or librarian say those things? Well, in this class we are throwing all that out the window and “breaking the rules”. We are turning books into art.

A new year and new work! It is undiscovered and unknown to me right now. Thinking about this is exciting and engages my imagination. What will I be drawing, painting, collaging this next year? Will I move into a different medium? Discover a new technique in the mediums I am working in now?

Why do I draw and paint? Someone raised this question in conversation. I thought it was a great question and perfect for reflecting on as I begin a new year.

In a couple of weeks I will participate in a drawing class. At my age you would think that I could just merrily go out on my own and draw but I love the teacher and her approach to drawing. She is a close observer of nature and so beautifully captures all the nuances of values, textures, and shape. I like the immediacy of drawing. Pick up a pencil, sit down and draw. simple. Everything I learn while drawing is also used in painting. Drawing is meditative.

Botanical Drawing. 8″ x 12″ Pencil. Kathy Grundei. 2018

The year will also include ample opportunities for painting. Why do I paint? I love color and mixing color when painting. It is one thing to draw a landscape or object but another to add color and compose with the value and intensity of color. Watercolor painting is also such a fluid and unpredictable medium. I enjoy teetering on trying to control and just letting it flow.

The Way it Was. 5″ x 7″ Watercolor Collage. Kathy Grundei 2018

Later this winter I will be heading to Florida and leaving the cold and white landscape of Minnesota. The time away includes weekly time with a group of plein air painters. I leave my drawing materials and techniques for the materials and techniques of watercolor painting.When I paint outdoors I get to enjoy nature though all my senses; smells, sounds, temperature, sight, etc. I love the community of painters who all paint the same location but interpret it with differing points of view, style and color. Being out in nature rather than in the studio can be challenging but worth all the challenges.

Plein Air Painting, Sanibel Island 2018

Both drawing and painting can be stressful. But the paradox is that drawing and painting can be very relaxing and exciting at the same time. It is a gift to spend time working through problems and eventually watching as something takes shape. There is something so amazing about completing a drawing or painting from start to finish.

Birch Trail. 9″ x 12″ Watercolor. Kathy Grundei 2018

Lots more to think about as I reflect on why I draw and paint!

Thank you for reading.

There is no other resource so plentiful, ever-changing, and full of information than nature around us. Get ready to dive in with both feet and don’t forget to bring your sense of humor.